Dillas rally for 11-10 win, remain perfect

The way Sam Lee was talking afterward, you wouldn't know he had a spectacular game at the plate.

The Amarillo rookie went 2-for-3 with four RBIs as the Dillas posted an 11-10 Memorial Day win against Greenville in front of 4,857 fans at Memorial Stadium.

But he was more concerned about a throwing error that he committed in the eighth inning that gave Greenville its last two runs.

"It was sloppy at the end," Lee said. "We made three errors and we have to step up on defense, especially me. I have to make my throws."

Lee made a backhanded stab of a sharp grounder off the bat of Popeye Cole. He settled in for the throw but threw it past first baseman Jarred McAlvain and allowed the Bluesmen to cut an 11-8 Dillas advantage to 11-10.

But the error turned out to be a footnote in the best game of his young season. He hit a two-run homer in the third inning.

"I was just trying to make contact," said Lee, who played college baseball at NCAA Division II power North Alabama. "Luckily, one of them went out of the park. I got good wood on it, and it went a pretty good ways."

Amarillo (5-0) started a three-game series with Greenville (1-2) on Monday after a four-game sweep of Ozark to open the season. Greenville, in its second season in the Texas-Louisiana League, is winless (0-8) in the Dilla Villa.

The Dillas are making games like this a habit. While The Famous Chicken was clowning around in the audience, Amarillo stopped clowning around when the opposing team was ahead by three runs. Amarillo had to come back from a three-run deficit for the fourth straight night.

"They (Greenville) are really improved from last year," said Dillas pitcher / manager Daren Brown."We're going to have to come out and play better baseball (today) to take care of them."

Greenville got out to a 3-0 lead after three innings as Shannon Rushing connected on an RBI-double in the second inning. The Bluesmen made it 3-0 as Cole scored on a Tito Landrum groundout in the third.

Amarillo cut the Bluesmen's lead to 3-2 as Lee cranked his second homer of the season over the wall in left for two runs.

The Dillas added four runs in the fourth inning with six straight hits against Greenville starter Brian Cravey (0-1). Cravey allowed seven hits and six runs in five innings, while Al Kermode (2-0) got his second win by throwing seven innings. Kyle Duey recorded his third save of the year by pitching the final 1 1/3 innings.

Henderson started the Dillas' fourth inning with a single, and Vince Moore hit a double. Shawn Hughes plated Henderson with an RBI-single, and McAlvain followed with a run-scoring single.

Chris Anderson singled, and Kenny Hook scored Hughes with a single. Lee got his third RBI of the night with a sacrifice fly that scored McAlvain, putting Amarillo ahead 6-3.

Lee completed his game as he singled in a run while Scott Hemond got his second hit in two games with a rope to left field that scored two runs for an 11-5 cushion in the bottom of the seventh.

Rushing, who was hitting eighth in the lineup, finished his night with a three-run homer in the eighth inning against reliever Rene Quinones to cut the Amarillo lead to 11-8. Rushing was a triple away from the cycle as he was 3-for-4 with four RBIs.

"It seems like we can't win one easy," Brown said. "We let them back in it with the Rushing homer. They've got some guys that can swing the bats."

Amarillo's Mike Boebert will throw in the second game of the series at 7:05 tonight against Greenville.

AMARILLO DILLAS NOTES

Once again, the Dillas had to rebound from a deficit in order to pick up a win. Late Sunday, Amarillo improved to 4-0 with an 8-7, 10-inning decision against Ozark at Memorial Stadium.

It was the third consecutive game that Amarillo had to come back after trailing by three runs. On Sunday, the Dillas were down 3-0 after the Mountain Ducks scored three runs in the second.

"It was an exciting game," said Amarillo center fielder Vince Moore. "Those guys never let down. They had some errors that gave us a chance to win the game."

Amarillo rebounded by scoring two runs in its half of the second and four in the sixth. The biggest blows in the sixth were a two-run double by third baseman Derek Henderson and an RBI-single by designated hitter Scott Hemond.

But Ozark scored four runs in the final two innings to take a 7-6 lead. Amarillo scratched out a run in the bottom of the ninth and received a bases-loaded walk by Mark Hampton in the 10th.

"We made a couple of mistakes that hurt us at the time and we didn't play real good defensively," said Amarillo pitcher / manager Daren Brown. "But we were able to pull it out. That's one trait that I'm glad to see my team have." All four of Amarillo's starting pitchers in the series had good outings against Ozark.

Al Kermode threw five innings, and Brown tossed 6 2/3. They both won. Boebert threw five innings, and Sunday's starter, Mike Leach, had a great debut, surrendering three runs and four hits in seven innings while striking out eight.

"He's got good stuff," Brown said about Leach. "He's got four good pitches and throws them all for strikes. If you do that in this league, you are going to win."

In the games that Boebert and Leach started, rookie Jason Whitson got relief wins. On Sunday, the Southeastern Oklahoma State product threw 2 2/3 innings and struck out three to get the win.

"He's a young kid, and if you get some productivity out of him, then that's great," Brown said. "I didn't expect him to come in and throw like he's throwing. Hopefully, we can keep that up all year." Former major leaguer Scott Hemond finally got his first hit to break an 0-for-15 skid, and it was almost perfect timing.

His sixth-inning, run-scoring single through the middle tied the game at 3 and sparked a four-run rally.

"He's struggled getting going," Brown said. "He's a professional hitter and he'll come out and make the adjustments. I'll give him another week before he really starts taking off." Last year, Amarillo's Vince Moore was sitting in the visitor's clubhouse when he played at the Dilla Villa. Moore was among the league leaders in steals as the center fielder for the Greenville Bluesmen last year. Greenville finished last in the league, so Moore has his own worst-to-first story as he joined the team that won the T-L regular-season title the past two years.

"I left on good terms," Moore said. "I grew real close to some of those players. It's kind of nice to see those guys again, but they are the opponents now." Sam Lee, Lonnie Maclin and Moore are the only three Amarillo players to get at least one hit in each of the first four games this season. . .Maleke Fowler was the other Dilla who got his first hit of the season Sunday. The right fielder went 3-for-3 with a triple and an RBI. . .Umpires Vincent Price and Jason Stein will be working the first 18 Dillas games this season. That string will take them through the final game of Amarillo's first road trip on June 13 in Ozark. . .Ozark left Amarillo and will continue a 14-game trip before opening in its new Ozark Stadium in Missouri on June 10 against the Dillas. RECORD BOOK (Through Sunday)CategoryW-L Overall4-0 Day0-0 Night4-0 Home4-0 Away0-0 Extra innings1-0 Shutouts0-0 One-run games2-0 Series1-0-0 vs. RHP3-0 vs. LHP1-0 DILLAS DAY-BY-DAYSunday1-0 Monday0-0 Tuesday0-0 Wednesday0-0 Thursday1-0 Friday1-0 Saturday1-0